The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is a province of the Anglican Communion serving New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Since 1992, the church (formerly known as the "Church of the Province of New Zealand") has consisted of three tikanga or cultural streams: Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. The church's constitution says that, among other things, it is required to "maintain the right of every person to choose any particular cultural expression of the faith". As a result, the church's General Synod has agreed upon the development of the three-person primacy based on this three tikanga system. The church has three primates (leaders), each representing a tikanga, who share authority.

The Anglican Church is an apostolic church, tracing its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and its companion, A New Zealand Prayer Book (ANZPB), containing traditional rites, blessings and liturgies, are central to the church's worship. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the church has pursued a decidedly more liberal course and is LGBT-affirming.

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Leadership

The church has decided that three bishops shall share the position and style of archbishop, each representing one of the three tikanga. The three archbishops sharing the title of Archbishop of New Zealand are: one vacancy for the head of Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa which oversees churches for the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand (following the death of Brown Turei, Bishop of Aotearoa); Philip Richardson, Bishop of Taranaki, representing the dioceses in New Zealand; and Winston Halapua, Bishop of Polynesia.

Aotearoa

Te Pīhopatanga o Aotearoa, one of three tikanga, oversees churches for the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. Aotearoa is made up of five hui amorangi or regional bishoprics:

Manawa O Te Wheke (north island central region)

Tairāwhiti (East Coast Region)

Tai Tokerau (Northern Region)

Upoko O Te Ika (Wellington/Taranaki)

Waipounamu (South Island)

New Zealand

The tikanga of New Zealand, which serves non-Maori in New Zealand, is made up of seven dioceses:

Distribution of Anglican population within New Zealand at the 2001 census.

Auckland

Christchurch

Dunedin

Nelson

Waiapu

Waikato and Taranaki

Wellington

Formerly, the dioceses in New Zealand were led by a "senior bishop" elected from among the diocesan bishops. However, as the church moves towards a three-person primacy, the leader of the dioceses in New Zealand is elected as co-presiding bishop and styled as an archbishop. The current Pākehā co-presiding bishop is Philip Richardson, Bishop of Taranaki.

Polynesia

The Diocese of Polynesia, or the Tikanga Pasefika, headed by Bishop Winston Halapua, serves Anglicans in Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and the Cook Islands. The diocese's first bishop was consecrated in 1908. The diocese's cathedral is Holy Trinity Cathedral in Suva, Fiji. As the province moves towards a three-person primacy, the Bishop of Polynesia is automatically a co-presiding bishop and styled as an archbishop. The Bishop of Polynesia is currently supported by three suffragan bishops: Bishop Winston Halapua, now the new Bishop of Polynesia, formerly lead the ministry to Polynesians in New Zealand, Bishop Apimeleki Nadoki Qiliho serves Vanua Levu and Taveuni, and Bishop Gabriel Sharma serves Viti Levu West as well as the archdeacons of Suva and Ovalau, Samoa and American Samoa, and Tonga.

Theological training

Residential theological training is carried out primarily at St John's College, Auckland, which is also organised according to the three tikanga approach.

Theological training was formerly carried out by College House in Christchurch, but over time College House has become secularised as a hall of residence of the nearby University of Canterbury. While it still falls under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch and has the extensive theological holdings in its library, it no longer trains ordinands.